Consulting a retirement planner and financial advisor

When considering your retirement planning options your company pension plan will go part of the way to providing you with an income after retirement but this is unlikely to provide sufficient income for your future needs.

A comprehensive retirement plan will include in part an income from your pension fund as well as an optional lump sum payment (up to 1/3 of the value). The balance of your needs need to be self funded through a combination of retirement products and may include retirement annuities, provident funds and preservation funds.

To enable your financial advisor do advise you correctly, you will need to provide him with information on your current financial position as well as an idea of your intended retirement lifestyle.

Your retirement planner will need:

Statement of assets and liabilities

It is important to be completely honest and open with your retirement planner including in your financial status any loans or obligations which may not be with financial institutions, details of any offshore accounts and cash on hand.

Current budget

It is important to discuss your monthly cash needs with your financial planner as it will not only give him a good idea of the available cash you have to invest toward your retirement on a monthly basis, but will give him/her an insight into your lifestyle and the lifestyle you wish to finance during your retirement.

Employment details including bonus structure

Increases and bonuses are an excellent way to invest for your retirement and your financial advisor will present both retirement and debt reduction options that are tax efficient and provide the growth necessary to fund your future lifestyle.

Details of your current company pension plan

This information is vitally important. It is best to provide your retirement planner with policy number and any other documentation you have available about the pension fund.

During the consultation with your retirement and financial planner you will be asked to sign numerous documents, most of which are protective documents designed to safeguard both the financial planner and you. After each product has been discussed or a retirement product selection made there are questionaires that need to completed and signed by both parties to validate what you have been told and what you can expect. These documents of course indemnify the planner and the company from any loss so be sure that you fully understand the risks that are being explained to you and the products you are putting your money into.

Hi Siphiwo, there is no fund called “anax logistics” Please use the search box in the blue strip on https://www.pensionfund.co.za to search for the fund name that you contribute to. (This will be on your statement) The results will show the contact info of the fund administrators.